Political Power Research Articles

António Lopes Ribeiro e António Ferro: cumplicidades cinematográficas e os projectos de internacionalização do cinema português

António Lopes Ribeiro was a major figure in Portuguese cinema for over three decades. In this paper, I intend to present and analyse the projects in which he was involved with the aim to create a national cinema with international projection, during the 1940s, and in particular during the Second World War. In order to guarantee the economic sustainability of the Portuguese film industry and continuous production, Lopes Ribeiro believed that distribution needed to be expanded beyond the traditional markets, namely, the colonies and the Portuguese emigration communities in Brazil. I will demonstrate how these internationalisation plans were only able to be materialised with the direct support of political power, examining his connection to António Ferro, the director of the organisation that oversaw cinema, the National Propaganda Secretariat/ National Secretariat of Information. Finally, I will look at the reasons why his projects for Portuguese cinema failed. Methodologically, this research draws on documents from the National Secretariat of Information and the Salazar archives, as well as other primary sources, mainly newspapers and magazines specialising in cinema, as well as a set of letters written by Lopes Ribeiro to António Ferro, from the Quadros Foundation.

The Dynamics of Kikuyu-Kalenjin Ethno-Political Relationships: The Run-up to 2013 Elections in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

2007 Post Election Violence (PEV). Surprisingly, in the following immediate national elections held in 2013, the two major protagonist ethnics; the Kikuyu and Kalenjin, previously embroiled in the political violence of 2007, came together in a new political coalition in the fight for the position of president and vice president. The elections witnessed the political elite skillfully harness their cultural institutions to achieve political power. The main concern of this study, therefore, was to establish the role played by certain cultural aspects of ethnicity in restructuring the political engagements between the Kikuyu and Kalenjin in Uasin Gishu in the run-up to the 2013 elections. To this end, the study employed the lens of instrumentalist and primordial theories while employing the historical method with a duality of an interpretivism philosophical underpinning and a qualitative approach. Primary data was analysed thematically and corroborated with secondary data. The study posits that some cultural aspects of both the Kalenjin and Kikuyu were instrumentalised by the political elite in Uasin Gishu to coalesce their people for political expediency. By the use of the same reverse logic, the study advocates the use of traditional African cultural structures to inculcate peace and political tolerance among the residents of Uasin Gishu as this historical study has proved possible.

Food Encounters in the Tropics and the Andes: Isaac Holton’s Sensorial Construction of Disgust with Colombian Food in the Nineteenth Century

ABSTRACT This article examines the circulation of travel writing in the formation of white tastes created rhetorically and materially in opposition to the tastes of locals, focusing on food encounters between U.S. writers and Latin Americans in the mid-nineteenth century. It examines the representation of Colombian foodways in the travel accounts of North American botanist Isaac Holton published in 1857. Holton’s rejection of certain foods, especially those that Colombians seemed to enjoy most, is presented as evidence of his sense of moral superiority. Scholarship on American travel and empire shows how discourses in colonial food encounters and narratives about morality and good taste created stereotypes that persisted over time. Food mediated the daily relationship between travelers and locals in contexts of contested social and political power. To address the coloniality of food encounters, this essay focuses on the textual circulation of representations of African-descended and racially mixed Colombians as lazy and dirty. Their food and foodways served as political, racialized, and gendered metaphors that represented subaltern Colombians in a growing global community of readers. Narratives of disgust about people of the tropics and the Andes help readers to understand how early American travelers to Colombia drew on their sensory experiences to construct narratives that interpreted cultural differences as national and moral. This analysis exposes the link between emotions and senses in forming narratives of “otherness” in the Americas.

Careers of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as “miraculous” anti-Covid-19 drugs

In early January 2024, a widely publicized article in the journal Biomedicine and Pharmacology estimated that approximately 17,000 COVID-19 patients in France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the US died as a result of hydroxychloroquine treatment. The publication of this article is a fitting closure to nearly three years of controversy about the possible use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19. Repurposed in early 2020 as miracle answers to the COVID-19 pandemic, they had a brief moment of worldwide celebrity, despite the doubts expressed by many experts. Hydroxychloroquine’s career ended in September 2020, when a series of clinical trials showed not only inefficacy to treat COVID-19 but also safety concerns. However, the use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine continued in Brazil, where the government continued to promote their use as the first therapeutic choice against COVID-19. Our study outlines the employ of these drugs in France and Brazil. Grounded in the methodology developed by social studies of science, our article reconstructs the trajectories of hydroxychloroquine in France and Brazil. It aims to elucidate the reasons for the Brazilian exception, illuminating the disastrous consequences of the exercise of a monolithic political power and of anti-democratic practices on drug regulation and proposes new reflections on a topic that has been visible in the media and widely discussed in society, but attracted much less attention in the academic sphere.

Disputed geometries of great power politics: US–China perspectives on minilateralism

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the theoretical and empirical development of contemporary minilateralism through the lens of US–China great power competition. The aim is to assess four theoretically informed predictions about US and Chinese minilateral formation: (a) the US would form minilaterals more readily than China, (b) the US would appreciate minilaterals more than China, (c) the US and China would have differing rhetorical approaches to discussing the value of minilaterals, and (d) that minilaterals formed in the contemporary period would tend toward institutionalisation in order to ensure their persistence (a reflection of the long-term nature of Sino-US competition). Following the Introduction, section II provides a descriptive, empirical overview of the perspectives on minilateralism in Washington and Beijing, focusing on the US judgment that they are an asymmetric advantage for the US, and China’s evaluation that they are a risk to its foreign and security policy strategy. Section III examines a set of US-led minilateral cases (Quad 2.0, AUKUS, US-Japan-South Korea, US-Japan-Australia, and US-Japan-Philippines) and the Chinese responses to their development. Finally, section IV concludes with thoughts on policy implications, as well as other avenues of research.

Rethinking the theory of quiet politics: bad corporate behavior and the failure of quiet politics in the east coast gas crisis in Australia, 2022

Abstract The theory of quiet politics has two propositions; first, that business interests prefer to engage with governments in ‘quiet’ arenas shielded from the media and the day-to-day political fray, and second that business interests exert power over governments in quiet politics. We counter the second proposition, arguing that business generally exercises influence rather than power in quiet politics. One precondition for the successful exercise of influence is the acceptance by business of certain protocols of behavior in interactions with governments. In this paper we underline the importance of such protocols by exploring the dynamics of a conflict between the east coast gas industry and the federal government in Australia amidst steep rises in domestic gas prices and supply restrictions in 2022. The gas industry behaved badly in the economy and in politics and did not abide by the relevant protocols of engagement with the government. The government responded aggressively and quiet politics failed. The paper underlines the importance of the behavioral pre-conditions for business influence in quiet politics and what can go wrong if this fails.

Frontline mobilisation as border thinking: redefining just transitions through decolonial praxis and community organising

I analyse the coming together of frontline actors, particularly people of colour in the US, building on the concept of ‘just transitions’ to help solve the climate crisis as ‘border thinking or border epistemology’ within decolonial thought. Frontline communities are characterised by high exposure to climate and environmental risks; fewer safety nets because of their immigration status and insecure jobs; and less political power to respond to risks. My contribution is twofold: first, to allow reflexivity and to acknowledge that I share some sense of the lived experiences with the people I speak with in my research, I have approached our encounter through pakikipagkapwa, a Filipino indigenous concept that evokes concepts of communal support, solidarity and equality. Second, I argue that conceptualising frontline mobilisation as border thinking repositions frontline actors as creators, thinkers and knowers who harness their collective power to shift from an extractive economy, which is profiting off labour and natural resources with centralisation of profits, to a regenerative one that is ecologically and equitably sustainable. Through praxis and community organising, frontline communities reclaim their agency, challenge dominant neoliberal capitalistic relations and redefine just transitions that reflect their practices and vision of the world.

Does Soft Power Look Different in Multinational Federations? International Education and Soft Power Politics in Canada/Quebec

Abstract While the study of soft power has gained significant scholarly attention, an understanding of soft power politics in diverse state models, and multinational federations specifically, is lacking. This study remedies this gap by exploring the connection between soft power and multinational federalism in the Canadian context, highlighting the tensions between the Canadian federal “majority” nation and Quebec's “minority” nation. Relying on the international education policy sphere and its soft power potential, the study extends the discussion of soft power beyond the typical unitary nation-state lens, elucidating the interaction of multiple (and contrasting) soft power rationales within one country. The study reveals that soft power politics can be exerted as much domestically as externally and can be pursued in a discorded fashion within a nation-state. Clearly, there is a need for a more nuanced understanding of soft power, which considers its contested manifestation, and the context-specific ways it is utilized.

Language-in-Education Planning for Foreign Languages in Morocco: Analyzing the Historical and Structural Impacts of History, Social Class, Ideology, and Power Dynamics

The present paper analyzes language-in-education planning for foreign languages within the Moroccan educational system. These policies have been adopted and/or implemented as part of three successive educational reforms that the state has undergone in the last 25 years (e.g., the National Charter 1999, the Emergency Program 2008, and the Strategic Vision 2015). Despite the state’s advocacy for varying foreign language instruction, these policies have been marked by a consolidation of French instruction as a primary foreign language and a shift to using it as a medium of instruction for science and technology subjects in middle and secondary education as part of language alternation pedagogy. The study adopts Tollefson’s (1991) Historical-Structural Approach as a conceptual framework to analyze how the constructs of history, class structures, ideology, and power dynamics have influenced language-in-education planning to perpetuate the social, economic, and political privileges of a francophone-oriented elite. The latter have employed their economic and political power to influence the indecisive aspect of the language-in-education policies—both covertly and overtly—to increase socioeconomic inequalities and injustices, including linguistic disparities between the elite and lower social classes. This dominant position of French within the educational system has also been motivated by external influences, manifested in the heavy political and economic relationship with France, the former colonizer.

Book Review: Biosecurity, Economic Collapse, the State to Come: Political Power in the Pandemic and Beyond by Boukalas, Christos

Book Review: <i>Biosecurity, Economic Collapse, the State to Come: Political Power in the Pandemic and Beyond</i> by Boukalas, Christos

How Does Politics Affect Quality of Public Transport Infrastructure?

While prior studies have investigated the impacts of political factors such as the ideological stance on quality of public infrastructure, there is a paucity of research on the political effects of re-election success, party fragmentation (political power), and the formation of new electoral consistency on quality of public transport infrastructure, which is represented in this paper by road maintenance efficiency. We employ an instrumental variable approach to mitigate a potential reverse causality bias inherent in literature. Our empirical results show that local governments whose political representatives were re-elected give rise to lower road maintenance efficiency. Local governments with new electoral constituencies report a higher road maintenance efficiency.

Political Consequences of Consumer Debt Relief

Abstract Many democracies operate consumer debt relief programs. These are often implemented or adjusted during the election cycle, but their political effects are not well-understood. We investigate if debt relief can influence high-stakes elections. We utilize quasi-experimental variation generated by a very large privately-funded debt relief program enacted in the Republic of Georgia during the presidential election in 2018 that affected every sixth voter. We estimate that the program helped the incumbent candidate win that election, and that its effects persisted. Overall, we show how economic power can translate into political power in a democracy.

Durability through discord – debating parliamentary procedure in Europe around the turn of the twentieth century

ABSTRACT During recent decades, the role and legitimacy of national parliaments have become increasingly topical and disputed. Parliaments seem to be on the constant defensive against criticism and challenges coming from multiple directions. New populist parties have entered the debating scene, framing parliaments as elite playgrounds and using them as stages for polarized politics. Not only mirrors of social unrest, debates in national assemblies may also be considered catalysts of social upheaval. Both stable and young democracies have been backsliding, and elected autocrats have concentrated power to small elites, harnessing public institutions for their power politics. At the same time, parliamentary democracy appears slow, short-sighted, inefficient and incapable of resolving the great dilemmas of our time. Democratic innovators are calling for more direct, deliberative and participatory forms to support, or even replace traditional parliamentary decision-making and representative democracy. 1 1 For example, D. van Reybrouck, Against Elections: The Case for Democracy, translated from Dutch by L. Waters (London, 2016); H. Landemore, Open Democracy: Reinventing Popular Rule for the Twenty-First Century (Princeton NJ, 2020). Accused of being ‘all talk, no action’, ‘political theater’ and arenas for ‘empty words’, ‘idle talk’ and ‘useless debate’, parliaments and their practices that long seemed self-evident, are now debated, abused, put aside or even neglected.

Decarbonization and the Capitalist State

ABSTRACTDecarbonization is the most important challenge of our time. Though quite modest, states are taking more climate action. How should we approach these efforts? Sociologists have paid less attention to decarbonization overall but frameworks in political sociology can make sense of state power and climate politics. In this review, I first discuss two sets of literature. The first extends “state‐capacity” and institutionalist frameworks. The second is based on radical and Marxist state theories. Following this, I draw from Mann's concept of “infrastructural power” which combines elements of both and can situate state power in a transnational context. Using this concept and recent literature in political economy, I discuss three infrastructures—finance, trade, and energy—and consequential ways states have altered them in recent years. These actions reveal profound geoeconomic contradictions which will undermine decarbonization. Together, this review provides a wide survey of state theories and macroscopic climate politics with the hope of spurring further discussion and debate.

Mandan Dandies: Trade, Intimacy and Ornamental Excess in a Destroyed 1832 Portrait by George Catlin

Abstract This essay considers the role played by economics and sexuality in the development of the imaginary of US settler colonialism by considering George Catlin’s destroyed 1832 portrait of an anonymous Mandan ‘dandy’. Catlin’s representation of Indigenous dandies likely informed Charles Baudelaire’s account of the dandy as an avatar of the transition to modernity, but during the gay and Indigenous liberation movements of the 1970s, the Mandan dandy was reclaimed as evidence of pre-colonial queer sexualities. Synthesising these conceptions, the essay argues that this figure illuminates the material conditions of modernity in the fur trade: an unstable assemblage of contradictory Indigenous and Euro-American systems of economic exchange, political power and sexual intimacy. The dandy figures a form of queerness that was conceived as an effect of these socioeconomic conditions, which Catlin condemned as perverse: a queerness that lay at the foundations of settler colonialism rather than in opposition to it.

CURRÍCULO E FORMAÇÃO NA EDUCAÇÃO DE JOVENS E ADULTOS: ANÁLISE DOS AVANÇOS, DESAFIOS E PERFIL DE ALUNOS

Analyzing the school curriculum from a post-critical and multi-referential perspective is essential to understand the influence of movements that defend a neutral and impartial curriculum. These moves have significantly shaped official decisions about the curriculum. The aim of this article is to explore how disputes over curriculum definitions go beyond epistemological concerns, encompassing political aspects and power relations, and to assess the implications for Youth and Adult Education (EJA) and teacher training. It is a bibliographic and documentary research. The results suggest that curriculum development is influenced by external power dynamics and political decisions. It is necessary to integrate the continuous training of teachers to better meet the diverse needs of EJA students. Understanding the curriculum as a dynamic and contested space is crucial for effective educational practices. To create an effective and inclusive pedagogical model, it is essential to consider both the theoretical and practical aspects of curriculum development. Reflecting on and learning about continuing professional development for educators from a curriculum that responds to students' experiences and needs is vital to fostering a meaningful learning environment.

Issues and Challenges of the Digitisation of the Capital Market in India

Governance involves the use of political, economic, and administrative power to manage a nation's affairs and ensure citizens' rights. E-governance utilizes electronic means for efficient, transparent public service delivery. India's National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) aims to enhance governance through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, establishing over 100,000 Common Service Centres (CSCs). These CSCs act as delivery hubs for public and private services, addressing regional development while fostering private sector and community participation for sustainable livelihoods. Mitigating the challenges of digitization requires raising user awareness and advancing the regulatory system through the use of cybersecurity practices

Polite Social Practices in 18th-century Scotland

This article explores the role and influence of elite women in 18th-century Scotland, focusing on their engagement with polite social practices during the Scottish Enlightenment. The Scottish Enlightenment, characterized by its integration of various disciplines and emphasis on both theoretical and practical knowledge, was a period of significant cultural intellectual development. Central to this movement was the concept of politeness, which shaped the social interactions of the elite and played a crucial role in their personal and societal advancement. Elite women were integral to the social fabric of this era, participating in mixed-gender activities and shaping the cultural landscape through their involvement in social gatherings, education, and print culture. Despite being formally excluded from public office and direct political power, these women exercised significant influence through social networks, family ties, and patronage, subtly navigating the political and intellectual currents of their time. The study highlights how these women, while adhering to socially accepted norms, found ways to circumvent formal exclusions, thereby contributing to the broader cultural and political life of Scotland. Their participation in polite sociability not only facilitated their integration into elite society but also played a vital role in the broader program of social improvement that characterized the Scottish Enlightenment. This article underscores the complex interplay between gender, power, and politics, revealing how elite women helped shape “The Golden Age” of Scotland through their engagement in polite social practices.

“There, seated upon the toilet, apparently in the midst of defecation, was the president of the United States”: Toilets and elite politics in the USA and UK

What can we learn about elite politics from the humble toilet? How do the relations between toilets, bodies, and waste materially and discursively reveal, and become enrolled within, the summits of state political power? While there has been a growth in research on the political geographies of the body, including work on toilets, and a long history of research on elite politics, the two intellectual concerns and debates have not been brought together. Yet the toilet and the bathroom, in both their material and discursive reproduction, provide intriguing insights into the seemingly sanitised, even disembodied domain of elite politics. We explore the space, use, and meaning of the toilet in two powerful contexts: the White House in the United States, and Downing Street in the United Kingdom. Shaped by differences in cultural and political context, we study the ways in which toilets feature in the working of elite power, and how that connects to gender, sexuality, race, nakedness, humour, and space in the (re)making of the political. By making the toilet an object of study we aim to shed light on this often forgotten and silenced, yet inevitable geography of elite politics.

Formulas for Autocratic Stability: A Review Article

Abstract Drawing on the analytical framework of Johannes Gerschewski's The Two Logics of Autocratic Rule, we explore the complexities of autocratic stability by examining the mechanisms through which autocrats preserve their regimes. We review Gerschewski's data set and arguments and provide our assessment regarding the empirical validity of Gerschewski's theory and tests. While Gerschewski's two logics of autocratic rule offer insightful understandings, the role of situational dynamics, international intervention, and political succession in influencing autocratic stability are underrated or neglected. The survival of an autocratic regime is not solely based on the prevention and preemption of challenges from political opponents, but also depends on the performance of regular governance functions along with a monopoly of political power and the resolution of leadership issues. The path-dependent nature of autocratic stability requires analysis of autocratic regime subtypes to effectively contextualize and generalize the patterns of political succession under different logics of autocratic rule. Lacking a comprehensive characterization of autocratic subtypes, the main contribution of Gerschewski's book is more theoretical than empirical.